Author: John

By Jonathan Plazonja As difficult as it may be for today’s drummers to believe, cymbals were hardly heard at all in popular music in the early part of this century. Instead, even as the seeds of jazz were being sown, cymbals were primarily used at the end of a number for a single big crash….

by Frederick D. Fairchild Harry Breuer, one of the great mallet players and composer of highly original xylophone solos such as “Back Talk,” “On the Woodpile” and “Bit O’ Rhythm,” achieved fame in the 1920s when he was a soloist in the big United States movie houses. He broadcasted from New York’s Roxy Theater, played…

by Frederick D. Fairchild Edgard Varèse is recognized as an important innovator in percussion composition and orchestration. Dissatisfied with the conservative bent of his early musical training, he finally found encouragement in Berlin from people such as Richard Strauss, only to have his composing and conducting career interrupted by World War I. He moved to…

by Frederick D. Fairchild Charles Wilcoxon was best known as a teacher and for his numerous publications, which included snare drum method books and solos. He began playing in local movie house when he was eight years old, taught his first students when he was 12, and at 14 was touring with minstrel groups and…

by Frederick D. Fairchild Charles Owen had a distinguished career spanning 50 years. Raised in Youngstown, Ohio, he got his first drum when he was four. He attended Rayen High School and studied bassoon, trombone, and percussion. After high school he studied percussion with Malcolm Gerloch of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He joined the U.S….

by Rick Mattingly As the big band era of the 1930s and early ’40s gave way to the bebop era of the late 1940s and ’50s, Max Roach became the most important bop drummer through his work with bebop founders Charlie “Bird” Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Roach was at the forefront of a new drumming…

One of the most influential 20th century composers, John Cage pioneered a body of music that he described as “the contemporary transition from keyboard-influenced music to the all-sound music of the future.” From 1930 to 1950 Cage composed over 16 percussion scores and invented compositional procedures and theories conceived for percussion music. During the 1950s…

by Frederick D. Fairchild (b. Omaha, Nebraska, USA May 23, 1893; d. 1970) Considered one of history’s greatest xylophone players, George Hamilton Green started playing at age 11 and at 13 was performing solos with his father’s band. At 19 he entered vaudeville and in one year was proclaimed “the fastest, most artistic, and most…

by Rick Mattingly “Lionel Hampton inspired me to play the vibraphone,” said Milt Jackson, the innovative vibraphonist of the Modern Jazz Quartet. “He was the first one of note to play it, but more important, I liked how dynamic he was. And the way he blended with groups and the way he played in front…

by Frederick D. Fairchild World renowned businessman and percussionist Carroll Bratman was the founder and owner of Carroll Sound, Inc. Starting percussion in 1921 as a member of the Baltimore Evening Sun Newsboys Band, he studied with Harry Soistmann and Adolph Riehl, received a scholarship to Peabody Conservatory in 1924, and in one year was…